First off, let me apologize for being an absolute shit blogger these last two weeks. My life is insanity, so it happens. And I'm sorry that I've failed at my New Year's Resolution for this blog but hey, new week and we're back on track. Now on to the real post....

When you're as pale as a ghost (I've only mentioned it about 500 times, right?), fake tanning is really your only option to catch up with those who actually have pigment in their skin. I know last summer I raved about the Banana Boat spray tan option, but I recently picked up a new choice and we'll see how it goes. In the meantime while we wait on my evaluation of that, I'll give you the rundown on my full fake tanning routine.

PREP
    Well let's just start with the obvious here: I always shower before applying a fresh tan. I know some people like to wait, but I'm a morning shower person, thus this gives my tan ample time to develop before I wash it off the next day. I also like to exfoliate for a couple days leading up to tanning, and usually shave my legs the day of because (1) I'm super lazy when it comes to shaving my legs, (2) your tan will fade the next time you shave and (3) it's an extra step of exfoliation to ensure that my skin is fully prepared to take on a spray tan. My current go-to exfoliator is Soap & Glory's Scrub of Your Life - it's foaming so it's not too harsh, but still delivers great results. Not to mention it smells really good. I've also been a fan of Tree Hut's offerings in the past. [Soap & Glory Scrub of Your Life not pictured, because I am a terrible blogger].

SPRAY
     I don't know how much detail I need to go into here. It's pretty self evident I think. My all-time holy grail spray tan is Banana Boat Summer Color Self Tanning Mist. My only complaint about this product is the smell, it says citrus but it's not great and it also lingers around for a while. Other than that it delivers great color and I've never had a single problem with streaking. However, a new one caught my eye when I went to pick up a new bottle for the upcoming season (because I'm realizing that my skin is as white as my Vans and it's not a cute look). I mostly bought it because it said it compares to St. Tropez, which I've somehow held off trying thus far. Anyway, it's Equate's (Walmart) version of their spray tan, but they also offer a mousse and a lotion, which may be tested later depending on how well I like this stuff.

MAINTAIN
     Moisturize, moisturize, moisturize. I can't say it enough. If you want your tan to last, the best way to maintain it is to moisturize, and not exfoliate but I think that goes without saying. I'm the laziest person when it comes to moisturizing, so it takes a lot for me to actually follow through with this step on a daily basis. Some of my favorite in my line up are Soap & Glory's The Righteous Body Butter, Jergen's Original Formula in the cherry almond scent, and pretty much anything from Bath & Body Works.

If you have any recommendations, I'm definitely open to them. Do you have a tanning routine? What's in your line up?

xx

Tessa